Continuing from the Marten Lake trip report....

After my unsuccessful attempt at Marten Lake, I went to the Otter Falls.
0.3 miles from the Marten Lake turn off, there is a massive washout happened in the recent flood.
I was trying to remember, If this section was there before. then I saw 2 other hikers on the trail, asked them. they too confirmed that this destruction happened in the recent flood.

I was unaware of a significant damage on the Snoqualmie Lake trail, it was a surprise for me. The sheer destruction is hard to explain in words.
Nature is so powerful, it gave me chills after seeing the washout.
Check the 3rd picture, I took a wide angle shot.
There are ribbons, follow them!

I initially was too low in the trail, then climbed up those rocks, went too far up, again came down to follow the Ribbons!
I am glad the stream was not too strong!
and Marten Trail made me kinda pro, so this didn't feel much difficult ha ha!

After that there are 2 more Significant stream crossings, Both were a little high, my poles came handy!
The otter falls is beautiful now with so much water!
I was the only one there. saw only 2 ladies on the way to Otter Falls, and nobody else in the rest of the hike back to my car!


I came back around 3 pm at the TH, only 1 car was there then.

didn't realize it would be such a great experience today. I guess Everyone's watching Superbowl lol. 😂

Beautiful Hike along the Taylor River to the Otter Falls. Ground was mostly frozen. A few compact snow/ice patches but only a handful that were about 10 Ft long. A few washouts to navigate, one of which does take a bit of climbing and crawling over rocks to pass. Definitely slick in places as ice and frost were present. Lotta frozen plants and frost hair! A few trees to navigate but pretty easy to go overs Only draw back to this hike is the number of off leash dogs. Didn’t encounter a lot of dogs but almost every single one was off leash. Some people didn’t even look like they had leashes with them. Also I’d be curious to see if others thought this was 8 miles. My Garmin and my friends fitbit both clocked it above 11miles.

Hiked with a willing child, having not seen the last trip report, which is still accurate. Finding the trail on the other side of washouts and blowdowns was sometimes challenging. Don't bother trying to keep your feet dry. Bring snowshoes and gaiters. We didn't, we had microspikes but never needed them. We were able to follow some snowshoe and boot tracks through most of the snowfields but at times we lost the tracks. Kid was able to walk on top of the snow without postholing, but without tracks to follow we would have had no choice but to turn around. Lake is frozen but I would not walk out onto it. We had a lot of fun despite the challenges.

To Otter Falls:

• Until the bridge creek crossing trail conditions are pretty good.
• One creek croossing is a bit washed out and a bit of a scramble.
• Various small creeks running over the trail but until the creek right before Otter Falls I managed to keep feet mostly dry. The last creek crossing is tricky. Water is pooling behind debris and quite deep (pants got wet too)

To Snoqualmie Lake:

• Big creek running pretty high and fun to see.
• After Nordrum split initially quite a few blowdowns and debris on the trail. It improves a bit once the trail starts climbing more.
• snow starts soon after Nordrum split, only interrupted by creeks running over the trail.
• turned around at 3000ft because I was wallowing in knee to waist deep snow. Snowshoes would have helped though generally it’s a bit of a mess with lots of holes under the snow due to slide alder and rocks.

overall a fun outing but be prepared to get wet. With this warm weather it’s all fine. 

This trail is awesome just bring a pole and show chains. Also don the gaiters because there was boot high snow and water crossings! The washout is passable; better with a friend or two to lend a secure hand. Involves climbing tall snowy rocks. Worth trekking to both falls- just be sure to get back in time for dark:)